


Revenge

by mtjester



Series: Insurrectionbent [7]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Sgrub Session, Caliginous Romance | Kismesis, F/F, Pirates, Space Pirates, Subjuggulators
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-13
Updated: 2013-04-13
Packaged: 2017-12-08 09:10:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/759627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mtjester/pseuds/mtjester
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Vriska awaits her trail in the Subjuggulator mothership, and she gets an unexpected visit from an old friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Revenge

**Author's Note:**

> Continued from [Defeat.](http://archiveofourown.org/works/674991)
> 
> Set before the events of [Insurrection for Desperate Dreamers.](http://archiveofourown.org/works/629667/chapters/1138507)

Vriska stared at the floor in front of her as the door of her cell swung open.  It’d been three days since they’d taken Newkon away, and as punishment for the fit she’d thrown she had been denied food.  As much as she wanted to express her defiance more violently towards this unwanted troll, she didn’t have the energy left for it.  The most she could do was refuse to give the troll the satisfaction of acknowledgement.

“This wasn’t how I thought we’d meet again.”

Startled, she looked up.  Terezi did not extend a further greeting, and Vriska scowled.

“Great.  You’re the last person I want to see right now,” she said.  “I bet you’re getting a huge kick out of this, aren’t you?  Oh, look, Vriska is finally getting her come-uppance!  Are you happy, or are you going to be laughing at me all the way to the gallows?”

“I don’t know,” Terezi replied, maintaining a stoic expression.  Vriska could feel her examining her in her own way, and she felt a twinge of smug pleasure remembering how long it'd been since she’d last bathed.  She wondered if Terezi’s nose could smell anything over her body odor.

“Then leave.  I don’t need this on top of everything else.”

Terezi considered her for a moment before sighing.  “I guess I was hoping you’d finally have something to say to change my mind about you.”

“You want me to say something?” Vriska asked, her voice rising in volume.  “Almost everyone in my crew was brutally murdered by fucking _Gamzee_ of all people and I’ve been living off of scraps in a city that’s been reduced to a hellhole by the people _you_ work for.  Now I’m sitting in a Subjugglator prison, completely alone because you bastards took away my last crewmember, and I’m just biding my time, waiting to get culled.  And you want me to say something about how I did a bunch of shitty things when I was a kid?  What, do you want me to tell you I _deserve_ this?”

“Gamzee was the Laughssassin?” she asked, her eyebrows shooting up.  Vriska let a growl escape from her throat. 

“Fuck Gamzee!  Where’s my first mate?  Where’s Newkon?”

Terezi was silent for a moment before replying, “He’s been culled.  Runaway slaves don’t get trials.”

Vriska gaped at her, trying to ignore the keen sense of loss that was suddenly throbbing against her ribs.  She and Newkon had spent the last couple weeks hiding in Tantopia with the rest of the criminals and pirates that had survived Gamzee’s slaughterfest, avoiding the Legislacerators and mercenaries that were cleaning up the mess for the Subjugglators.  The two of them had become close.  Really close.  But now he was dead.  She ground her teeth, turning her anger and hatred onto Terezi.  She could hardly muster the energy to move, let alone lash out at her physically, but if Terezi wanted words, she would get them.

“You want me to say something to you?” she said.  “I have something to say to you.  Look at you, all dressed up in your Legislacerator uniform.  Is it everything you dreamed it would be?  I bet you’re so sure of yourself, pursuing justice in the name of His Honorable Tyranny!  But you know what your problem is, Terezi?  You’re the biggest hypocrite in the universe.  You have all these highfalutin’ morals and fancy reservations, but you‘re just as bad as I am.  No, you’re worse!  You _let_ those bastards tear apart an entire city of people!  You weren’t there to see how Gamzee destroyed the whole place, not giving a shit if he killed an innocent next to a criminal, and I can tell you, it was horrible!  But even if you had been there, you wouldn’t have stopped him, because that’s what you think justice is.  You listen to them tell you all sorts of lies about who deserves to die and who doesn’t.  Like Newkon.  He didn’t do anything to deserve death.  You probably would have even liked him!  But do you care?  No.  What’s a lowblood ex-slave to you?  You’re a killer who pretends to be a saint because someone else made a bunch of laws to tell you you’re following the rules.  You’ve played right into their elitist highblood justice system like you don’t even have a mind of your own.  In fact, I’m willing to bet you don’t even know what justice really _is_ without all their fancy laws and courtrooms!  You want me to apologize for the silly misadventures we had as wigglers?  Fine.  Whatever.  I’m sorry you’re blind, and I’m sorry Aradia’s dead.  And I would be sorry that Tavros is crippled except—whoops!  He’s been culled by your bosses!  Isn’t that funny?  Here I am, apologizing for crippling your friend, but it’s your own superiors who killed him in the name of your bastardized justice system.  But that’s okay, isn’t it, because it’s _justice_ when _they_ kill people!  Just not when I do it.  So great, you caught a thief.  Good for you!  One thief hung.  But you’re letting the real murderers run free.  You’re the killer, Terezi.  You are.  _You are_.”

Terezi kept her face set through the entire speech, letting no emotion break through her calculative exterior.  Vriska couldn’t tell if she had made any impact on her at all.  It was infuriating how she could stand there and take that sort of abuse without so much as a frown.  Vriska, on the other hand, was full of hot emotions, anger and hatred and, if she cared to admit to it, hopelessness.  It was agonizing how much she was feeling, how overwhelmingly full of feeling she was, and Terezi didn’t seem to be feeling anything at all.

“You bitch!” she shouted, losing control.  The hot emotions overtook her weakness and fatigue, filling her with shaky and nauseating adrenaline.  She pounded her metallic fist against the floor and the sound reverberated through the cell.  “You hypocritical witch!  You heartless, vicious—when is it enough for you?  You’re the murderer, not me!  You are!  I fucking hate you!  _I fucking hate you!_ ”

She grew quiet, panting, and her eyes burned.  Terezi didn’t respond.  Wordlessly, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a coin, and she flipped it.  It fell to the floor, the sound of it hitting the metallic ground rising above Vriska’s ragged breathing.  She reached down and ran her thumb against the surface, and she whispered, “Maybe that was it.”

Without offering an explanation, she turned and left.  Vriska’s panting slowed.  Even alone, she hated the way her choked sob echoed around the empty cell.

Another couple of days passed, during which she was fed twice.  At least they weren’t simply leaving her to starve to death like an afterthought, she told herself bitterly, but even then she had her doubts.  She really had reached the lowest of the lows.  She tried to reassure herself that her bad luck would be totally expended by the time she escaped, but even that small hope seemed hopeless as days went by without any promise of change.

Finally, someone came to escort her to her trial.  Although she still had not come up with a plan, she was grateful to be leaving the cell.  There were so many more opportunities outside the cell than inside it.  With a twinge of excitement, she recalled Mindfang’s account of her glorious escape from captivity, and she wondered if she would get a similar chance.  But the more logical side of her brain told her that she had not made enough of a name for herself to earn a public trial like the Marquise’s, and she felt growing dread as she followed her escort.  She had been shackled.  Her food restrictions had taken their toll on both her mind and her body, and she was weak.  If her spectators resisted manipulation, she would be screwed.  Even if they could be manipulated, she would need a large crowd to pull off the stunt Mindfang managed, which she wasn’t likely to get.  Once again, it seemed that luck would be against her.

But a voice called for them to stop, and when she looked up, Terezi was standing before them, dressed up for trial.  She regarded Vriska's escort coolly.

“I will be taking this prisoner to the courtroom,” she announced.  “You’re excused.”

Her escort, a blueblood, sneered at her.  “And by who’s orders, Miss Junior Legislacerator?  No teal blood’s got the say-so to be makin’ decisions like that.”

“I’m the prosecuting attorney,” Terezi responded.  “I have the right to intimidate her before the trial.  You can ask your supervisor about that if you want to make an issue of it, but I hear he’s feeling a little vindictive today.”

She cocked her eyebrows and the blue blood’s smirk slipped a bit.  “Fine,” he said, pushing Vriska towards her and turning to walk away.  Vriska fell next to Terezi, and they began to walk towards the courtroom.

“So this is how it’s going to end between us?” Vriska asked, but Terezi simply held up a finger.  She waited until the sound of the blue blood’s footsteps had faded to nothing, and she whispered, “Follow me,” picking up speed and turning down a hallway leading away from the courtroom.

“Hey, what—?” Vriska asked, trying to keep pace with her despite her weakness, but again Terezi held up a finger.  Vriska, baffled, fell silent, and with no better plan, she blindly followed Terezi, who blindly led her through a labyrinth of hallways.  Terezi’s hearing and sense of smell were both unbelievable sharp, and she knew when to stop and hide long before Vriska could sense any danger.  By some miracle, they found their way to the main deck, but before Terezi led them out into the crowds of trolls conducting their business with the Subjugglators, she pulled Vriska into the shadows.

“Listen: you are my prisoner, and I am leading you away.  You have to do what I tell you to do.  And if there’s any trouble, use your mind powers, but only enough to deter them,” she whispered.  “We don’t want a scene.”

“Why are you doing this?” Vriska hissed, grabbing Terezi before she could slip away.  “I thought you hated me.”

“But that doesn’t mean you’re not right,” she said.

“What?”

“Stop worrying about it now!  We don’t have time.  We’ll talk when we’re out of here.”

“ _We_?”

“Come _on_.”  With that, Terezi shoved Vriska out into the open and ordered her to walk.  Vriska stumbled a bit and cursed, and Terezi met her glare with a toothy grin.  Scowling, Vriska did as she was ordered to do, and Terezi led her through the crowd with her walking cane like she was leading an animal.  She could almost feel Terezi’s smug expression.  But the rouse worked well enough.  No one paid them much heed, and Vriska dealt with those who did spare them a second glance with a small mental nudge to curb their attention.  Slowly, they picked their way to the docks.

The next challenge was getting a ship.  Smoothly, as though it were a daily occurrence, Terezi strolled up to the dock manager and told her she needed a craft.

“On whose orders?” the woman asked, glaring down her long nose at Vriska.

Terezi dropped a name that Vriska didn’t recognize, but apparently it meant something to the dock manager.  She grimaced.  “What business does _he_ have sending you into space with an emaciated prisoner?”

“Don’t you recognize her?” Terezi asked, feigning surprise.

“Should I?”

“This is Marquise Spinneret Mindfang’s descendent!” she said.  She made a show of listening for eavesdroppers and leaned in, beckoning for the woman to follow suit.  “Someone in the higher circles thinks she knows something about some sort of legacy treasure.  They’re trying to keep it a secret—you know how those greedy bastards are.”

The woman made an irritated noise of agreement.

“So if anyone asks, try not to make a big deal about this,” Terezi finished.  The woman studied her.

“Why would they give a job like this to a neophyte Legislacerator like you?” she asked, not intending to be rude.  It was becoming clear that she was fond of Terezi, despite her cross-examination. 

“To curb suspicion,” Terezi answered.  “Besides, I’ve done a thing or two to prove my worth.”

She nodded in agreement and smiled before standing straight and filling out a paper on her clipboard.  “Take the craft on the end.  You have a perigee on it.”

Terezi shoved Vriska towards the end of the dock, and she tapped the ships with her walking stick, counting to the end of the row.  She whacked Vriska mercilessly as a signal to board, and Vriska, grumbling and resisting the urge to rub the sore spot, complied.

Terezi snickered as she started the engines.  “She didn’t even ask me for authorization papers,” she said, grinning as she lifted the ship out of its dock.  They hovered along the runway strip, and once given clearance, they shot into space.

“Okay, so what’s the deal?” Vriska asked as soon as they were safely out of the Subjugglator mothership.  “What’s with the sudden change of heart?  Have I somehow redeemed myself?”

“Not exactly,” Terezi answered, leaning back in her seat.  “I still think you’re a lie and a cheat.  But like I said, you were right.”

“Right about _whaaaaaaaat?_ ”

“About the Subjugglators,” she said.  “And about the legal system.  It _is_ nothing more than a bunch of elitist highblood bullshit, and it’s completely biased against the lower classes.  What you said about your mate, and about Tavros—it’s true.  And I don’t want to be a part of that.”

“Really?” Vriska asked.  “You actually _believed_ all that stuff I said?”

“You just put words to something I was already thinking,” she said.

“Oh, so I’m just a vehicle for your identity crisis,” Vriska sneered.  “Well, whatever, I guess that’s fine.  It definitely works in my favor!”

“About that,” Terezi said, “I think I can make this work even more in your favor.”

Vriska glanced at her, raising an eyebrow.  “You can?”

“Since your old crew was killed, I thought you could use a new hand.”

Vriska was floored.  “You mean, you want to rekindle Team Scourge?” she sputtered, gawking at Terezi.  “ _You_ want to rekindle Team Scourge?  Just like the good ol’ days?”

“No,” she said, frowning.  “Not like that.  I’m proposing a truce more than a partnership.”

Vriska’s eyes narrowed.  She knew it was too good to be true.  “What truce?” she asked.

“I’ll help you do your pirate thing _only if_ we work in the parameters of true justice—“

“Of course,” Vriska interrupted, rolling her eyes.  “How could I expect Terezi Pyrope to give up on her justice schtick just because she found corruption in the system?  That’s like expecting Kanaya to quit meddling in my business because she’s still on Alternia.  Or like expecting Karkat to stop flipping his shit _ever_.”

“Have you talked to Karkat?” Terezi asked, turning towards her in surprise.

“What?  No, I was just saying...” she started, and then an expression of understanding crept onto her face.  “Ooooooooh, I see what all this is about.  You’re pissed because Karkat got fucked over for being a mutantblood!  That’s what’s got you all flustered about the justice system!”

“Maybe,” she responded after a second.  “So?”

“What, is he dead?  And here I was thinking it was Tavros you were so upset about!”

“I’m upset about _both_ of them."

“But more upset about your flushcrush.”

“Who says he was my flushcrush?”

“Are you kidding, Pyrope?  You made no effort to hide your red advances towards him.  He was somehow the only person _not_ to get the hint!”

She shrugged.  “It doesn’t matter now."

“That’s the spirit!” Vriska agreed, ignoring Terezi’s lack of enthusiasm.  “If you want to fight in the name of the lowly and pathetic everywhere to honor Karkat’s shitty memory, that’s fine by me.  I can give the Troll Robin Hood thing a go if it means Team Scourge will be back in action!”

“Not Team Scourge,” Terezi corrected her.  “Team Scrouge never dispensed justice.  It just lied and cheated and killed.  Those days are behind us.”

“Well, fine.  Whatever.  What do you want to christen our new, philanthropic partnership?”

“We’re not partners.  This is just a truce.”

“Fine.  Truce.  Whatever.  I guess you don’t name truces, do you?  So we’ll just be two people who _apparently_ don’t trust each other at all living in the same ship and sort of working together.”

Terezi grinned.  “That sounds right.”

“Great.  In that case, I have a condition for our _truce_.  I get to be captain.  I get the final word on navigation, crew, and image.”

“Okay,” Terezi agreed, “but on the condition that you can’t use your mind powers on anyone who doesn’t deserve it.”

“Define ‘doesn’t deserve it.’”

“You know what I mean,” Terezi said.  “No backstabbing.  No pointless violence.  No manipulating innocent people.  You can use your mind powers on bad guys and bad guys only.”

Vriska grit her teeth, wondering briefly if teaming with Terezi again was worth the demands of the truce, but a thought flickered across her mind.  “Are we considering Subjugglators bad guys right now?”

Terezi considered the question and answered, “Yes.”

“Okay, so no mind powers on anyone but bad guys.  _But_.  In return for that, you have to help me get my revenge.”

“Revenge?  You mean—“

“On the Subjugglators.  Mostly Gamzee.  I’m going to make him pay for what he did to me.”  She tightened her fists, remembering the horrors of that awful day in Tantopia.  Never in her life had she suffered such a terrible loss, except when she had lost her vision eightfold.  She wondered if even that had been so bad.  If she was truly honest with herself, she may have admitted that the loss of her vision eightfold did not compare to the loss of her ship, her crew, and, feeling her heart sink, her first mate.  But she didn’t want to think about it.  She wanted to act on it, and she didn’t mind acting righteous for Terezi if she would help her bring down the one who had humiliated her so ruthlessly.

“That’s not a good idea,” Terezi said.  “He’s a lot more dangerous than you think.  He’s not how he used to be.”

“I don’t fucking care,” Vriska said.  “You help me bring down Gamzee, and I’ll be good and decent for you.  No mind powers, no unfair tricks, no backstabbing or lying.”

“I don’t believe you."

“What do you want from me, Pyrope?” Vriska said.  “You’re the one proposing this truce!  Take it or leave it.”

She considered it for a moment.  “Fine,” she finally said.  “But if you get out of hand, I’ll turn you into the Subjugglators.”

“Fine!” Vriska shot back.  “And if you get out of hand, I’ll kick you off my ship.”

“What ship?”

“The ship we’re going to steal.  From someone who deserves it, of course.”

Terezi smiled.  “As long as they deserve it.”

“Damn right!” Vriska said, standing up.  She felt a rush to her head and gripped the back of her chair to steady herself.  After a second or two, the blood stopped throbbing behind her eyes, and she turned to Terezi.  “Where do they keep the food on this piece of junk?”

“Follow me, _captain_ ,” Terezi said, leading her to the ship’s kitchen.

**Author's Note:**

> [If you followed the link at the end of IDD chapter 15 to this fic, click here to proceed to chapter 16.](http://archiveofourown.org/works/629667/chapters/1428392)


End file.
